


The Apology

by grizzlegreertrash



Series: Sai Journal [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-05-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:34:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24477262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grizzlegreertrash/pseuds/grizzlegreertrash
Summary: Continuation to Christmas Date.Ino feels bad for abandoning Sai on Christmas Eve, and after being confronted by Sakura decides that the best time to apologize is when he returns from a 2 week mission. After the 2 weeks are up, she desperately tries to find the courage to face him again.Luckily, she didn't have to wait anymore, as Sai has his own plans to apologize.Bad summary I know, but it's the resolution you have all been waiting for.
Relationships: Sai/Yamanaka Ino
Series: Sai Journal [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760044
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	The Apology

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome Back!
> 
> I'm a liar, aren't I? Not even two days after the last entry is posted saying I wanted to chill out, here I come with another 1k+ word oneshot to conclude this plot line. I really did enjoy writing Christmas Date, so I decided to resolve this mess the same way I started it. I did my damndest to properly connect this as many times as I could. I think I did it about 3 times intentionally, so look for those references. This resolution hit me suddenly yesterday and I felt like an absolute genius. This didn't change the fact that it took me about 6 hours to write in its entirety. 
> 
> I am personally proud of this one, so please enjoy

**January 24th**

Ino feels awful.  
  
After a full month, she still felt awful over what happened on Christmas with Sai. Her feelings were still as strong as ever for the man. Too strong for her to control at the time. And now she’s made him feel like he’s the cause of her problems and it’s made her guilt only multiply. 

She knew that avoiding him was only making the problem worse, but how was she supposed to face him after walking out like that with no explanation? Or worse, explaining to him outright what had happened. He wasn’t ready to hear about that. 

As she ran home that night, she struggled to hold her tears back. 

_Save them for when you are home_

Her parents had taught her that tears were a sign of strength, but she felt more vulnerable than ever.

She had to face the fact that she was now deep into her feelings for Sai. But she knew that his situation required delicate action. She had seen first hand his struggle to handle emotion. She wanted to save him then from that genjutsu, and now she wants to save him from himself. And as much as she wants to save him, it may only overwhelm him

_Besides, there could be a chance he will never feel more towards me_

Indeed Ino saw that Sai’s feelings were present, but they were buried under many layers of pain and suffering. The damage had been done, and while he improved by leaps and bounds, that trauma would never be truly erased. He had been a child that wasn’t raised with warm love and affection, but with the cold embrace of order and duty. Feelings like this don’t just come naturally. It infuriated her that Sai’s case was not isolated, but many children also suffered this fate during the period of unrest in their country. This fury only drove her to support Sakura in opening the Children’s Therapy Center that now had its own wing in Konoha’s hospital. 

Speaking of which, the massive forehead of Konoha had recently approached her regarding her recent dilemma. Sai must’ve told her in confidence and she just had to once again stick her nose into things that were none of her business. But to her, it was her business when her friend and once teammate had come to her “asking for help,” as she had put it. Ino tried her hardest to dodge every question in her shoddy yet intense interrogation. She was successful in keeping her at bay by saying that she had every intention to talk to Sai, but was suddenly disheartened when Sakura revealed that he would be partaking in a 2 week mission very soon and that she didn’t have very much time. 

_I’ll just apologize when he gets home_

Now those two weeks were up, and she had been desperately trying to gain the courage to approach him.

Luckily, she didn’t have to bide her time much longer, as Sai had entered the shop that afternoon, a sketch pad under his arm and hesitation present in every step.

“Ino, I-”

Ino held up her hand to silence him. “Do not apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She paused, wondering if Sai would respond. He looked to be waiting for her to continue, the fingers of his right hand quietly drumming against the side of the sketch pad. Seeing this nervous mannerism, she took a deep breath before obliging. 

Before she could utter a word, he pulled out the sketch pad, holding it in front of him. It revealed a single Zinnia flower drawn at the center of the page. 

That deep breath might as well have been her last. Her hands suddenly covered her mouth.

“I want you to know how I’ve been feeling over this.” His voice was timid and wavering, betraying his nearly blank expression. He took a shaky breath, casting his gaze to the floor. “Because I don’t have the slightest clue as to what this is.”

Ino tried to listen to his words, but was still in the process of forming a coherent thought. “The thought of absent friends.” That was the meaning of the Zinnia. He just used hanakotoba to communicate with her. 

_Duh! Why hadn’t I thought of this before?_

“You know what this means, right?” His eyes were now on her, one pale finger pointed to the flower.

She could not trust herself to speak just yet, so she only nodded. 

Face now steeled, he lowered the sketchpad back down to his side. “I need to show you something else. Please come with me.” 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  
  


By the time Ino joined Sai at the entrance of the shop, she had calmed down a bit from her initial shock. She couldn’t help but feel incredibly touched. Sai had gone out of his way to study a language that she understood and strongly connected to. She wasn’t sure if he knew how romantic of a gesture that really was…

But that wasn’t the point! The point was that a wonderful opportunity had presented itself. Sai wasn’t too fluent in sounding out his emotions, but the flowers could. He successfully conveyed that he was affected by her absence in his life using the zinnia. Studying further into hanakotoba could really help him. The idea of teaching him about it made her heart soar. This didn’t last long, for the situation at hand had caught back up to her. 

She lagged behind him as they proceeded their route towards his apartment. Or at least she assumed. This was the same path they took on Christmas Eve. The only silence came from them, as the village around them was abuzz with normal activity. She noticed that Sai kept tossing glances behind him, as if checking to make sure she was still following him. He was an excellent sensor, so why would he feel the need to reassure himself? 

_He must really be nervous._

The silence between them followed them up until they reached his apartment once more. Ino had made note that this silence was unlike the awkwardness of that night. This was a more intense silence. One that only grew deeper in meaning the longer it persisted. Ino’s trepidation began to overwhelm her as she climbed the steps leading to their destination. 

Sai halted in front of the door, bringing his free hand up to scratch at his head. 

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know what has gotten into me lately. All I know is that I feel guilty for what I did.”

_Why should he feel guilty when I did this to him?_

Ino was tired of making him feel this way. She wanted him to be able to embrace his emotions, not push them away.

“It’s ok.” She threw on a mask of indifference. “I was conflicted. I couldn’t help it. No one could.” She tried to wave off his concern, but he wasn’t convinced. 

“But I made you feel conflicted. That wasn’t my intent.” Opting for a different stance, he crossed his arms as best he could with the sketch pad still in hand, left hand hanging onto his elbow. 

Ino’s aggravation was growing stronger. He was as inquisitive as ever, but she couldn’t have him guess correctly. She had to use a different tactic to throw him off her trail.

“You know that there are other problems in my life, right? Christmas is always a hard time for me and mom since dad died!”

_Sorry dad. I hate to use your name like this, but he can’t know._

Sai’s eyes widened and his arms dropped to his sides. He couldn’t argue with that. 

_Got him_

Sai straightened up his posture before bowing to her

“I apologize for being so selfish. Forgive me.” His apology pierced the air. She had never heard him speak with such a commanding tone. 

The silence that followed was as sharp as the apology. 

_Oh brother. This is going over well, now isn’t it? God I’m such an idiot._

Ino inwardly chastised herself. While it wasn’t a complete lie, dragging her own personal problems instead made him feel even worse. Sincere enough to bow. She realized that by covering up her own feelings, she in turn invalidated his. She had to get this back on track. 

Realizing she hadn’t moved a muscle, he tried again, force completely forgotten.“You can leave. I’m sorry I dragged you out here.”

“Sai, lift your head. It’s okay. It’s not your fault. You wanted to show me something, right?” 

Sai upturned his head, body still bowed. He was clearly caught unaware, confusion lining his face. 

“But I mistakenly felt victimized by your grief. Why do you care what I have to show you?”

Ino had to sigh. He really was hopeless.

“Because we are friends. Your feelings matter too.”

That made Sai slowly return to his previous posture. He readjusted the sketchpad back under his arm before reaching for the doorknob, head dropping once more to focus on it. 

Ino peered inside and audibly gasped. 

Of all the things she expected, none of them matched this. 

The floor was covered with sheets of paper. All of them were unfinished drawings. The easel that sat in the center of the room still held the unfinished sketch of her from Christmas. Upon further inspection, all of the drawings were of her. She unconsciously stepped into the flat, her hands moving up to cover her mouth for the second time that day. 

“Sai… What happened?” She turned around to find him still standing in the door frame, shoulders now sullen. He stiffened himself up to hesitantly take a step inside. 

“It’s strange, isn’t it? After you left, I couldn’t help myself. But since you wouldn’t let me look at you, I forgot what you looked like.” He chuckled at that, another smile lining his face.

As if this man couldn’t tear her heart to shreds anymore. 

Ino spoke before the words could get trapped in her throat. “Sai. I’m so sorry.” She took one more painful glance at the easel before facing him. “I had no idea that I did this to you.”

Sai’s grin fell from his lips. For the first time that day, his gaze finally focused on hers completely

“I invited you over because I am grateful for all you have done for me. You saved my life and have only tried to help me when I have done nothing to show for that. You are so-” He paused, trying to find the right words.

_Come on. Tell me how you feel._

Ino mentally cheered him on as he took in an audible breath.

“-Honest and unafraid to express your emotions. I admire that about you. I really want to be able to do that too.”

Her heart began to slowly piece itself back together, strengthening. She carefully walked towards the stool, minding her step with all of the paper littering her path.

“Why don’t we try this again then? She shot him a mischievous grin. “I promise to let you finish this time.” 

She watched a dazzling smile bloom on his face before remembering his feet still worked. He followed her motion towards his own stool. 

“I’ll hold you to it, Beautiful.”

She closed her eyes with a contented sigh as she seated herself. She was wonderfully wrong about Sai. This whole thing only proved to her that he would be capable of falling for her. She just wasn’t sure if all he needed was time, or a gentle but effective push. 

“Please open your eyes for this. I want to depict them in this.” 

She followed his direction without question. He was as blunt as ever, but that wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

She suddenly remembered that maybe she should act a little sooner with Sai. Naruto and Hinata had been in their own world since that moon mission, but her own boys were acting awfully suspicious as of late. 

She made sure to smile for him, because she was pretty certain that he was smiling too.

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> And there's the conclusion! I hope you enjoyed this one. We are closing in on 10k words for the entire project and it hasn't even been a month since I wrote the first chapter. We are so close to getting these two together and I am getting psyched to do so. 
> 
> I want to thank all of the readers who have done nothing but support my writing so far. I can't stress enough how thankful I am.
> 
> Until next time, and as always comments and criticism is always accepted
> 
> -Saikage (grizzlegreertrash)


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